The Montrose Early Childhood Center opened its doors in November of 2015 after an extensive remodel of a former elementary school in the district. The nearly fourteen month long renovation brought a very old building , built in 1928, back to its former glory with many new features to accommodate the preschool age child. While the district has provided preschool services to the community for nearly 30 years, the classes were scattered throughout the two towns and focused mainly on the needs of children with special needs. The opening of The MECC, gave the district the opportunity to broaden the scope of services and include children from across the community in a setting with a strong play based curriculum which can meet the needs of a wide variety of learners.

The school features a state certified teacher in every classroom and two classroom aides. We also have a full-time certified school nurse to meet the medical needs of any child who attends. The maximum number of students in a room is 15 giving us a 1:5 ratio of staff to children. There are options for half-day (9:00am to 11:30am) or full-day (9:00am to 2:00pm). There is a hot lunch program that families can use that is flexible and affordable while nutritionally balanced meeting all the federal guidelines. Each classroom has its own bathroom and is fully air-conditioned, with ample space to play and learn with wonderful natural lighting. The building meets all federal standards for accessibility. ​

In designing this school, much thought was given to meeting the needs of the preschool learner. A nationally recognized, state approved curriculum was adopted called “Tools of the Mind”. The central focus of this curriculum is the development of both cognitive and social-emotional self-regulation at the same time that academic skills are taught. For more detailed information we suggest you access the website at www.toolsofthemind.org. ​

Registration for the program starts in early February and continues until all seats are filled. Students must be three years of age by October 1st of the start of a school year to be eligible for the program. Registration materials can be obtained on the district’s website at www.somsd.k12.nj.us. General Education students pay tuition and there is a sliding scale of fees that are determined on the income of the family. Call the school for more details or email the Director at rjoyce@somsd.k12.nj.us